Talk:Smells Like Teen Spirit/@comment-5192513-20141011182539
☼☼☼ Rika Furude Appreciation // Higurashi no Naku koro ni Rika is from my all-time second favorite anime series, Higurashi no Naku koro ni, or shamefully titled "When They Cry" in North America. Anywho, much to my despite, my initial response to Rika was very critical. I found her to be way to overt with her cuteness, and thought Rena's obsession with her was overdone and irritating. I found her to be this irrelevant child who proves to be trivial within the show, compared to the main four, Keiichi, Rena, Mion and Shion. I thought she was less of Satoko, which is surprising, because although I do love Satoko, I initially knew she was a broken soul and I sympathized with her. With that being said, for the first 3 arcs of the show, I literally hated Rika. *SPOILERS* Little did I know, Rika was the hidden main character of the show. While that point later proved to be trivial to why I ended up having respect for her, it was much a surprise to me. She initially showed to be nothing more than a kawaii character there for cuteness relief. But she has another side. For those who don't know WHAT Higurashi is about, to keep it short but still explain nicely, the anime is set in a rural town called Hinimizawa in the late 1980s, though people live there piecefully, once a year, at the Cotton Drifting Festival, someone gets murder/dies mysteriously/kills themselves and another person goes missing, those two people usually are close aqquantinces. Along with that, someone or a group of people are committing the murders due to paranoia that overtakes them during the period of the festival, though many town peple believe it to be curse. This is where Rika comes in to be a very important figure. Underneath her cute, small 12-year resembled exterior, is a century-old genius, who actually seems to have knowledge of their time-loop. Rika is actually a depressed, conniving, vindictive, secretive though equally genius person. Though she's only died on screen five times (that's not a lot for this show), it's implied she's died in every arc. And she always knows of her revivals and what she has to do, leading to her first suicide because she knew death was coming anyway. When Rika is being Kawai, she has a high-pitched, nasally, sqeaky and monotone voice. Though when she's being her actual self, she has a low, raspy, sarcastic voice. She has a thing for toying with people, even though she knows the circumstances she's been under. It always baffled me that she was able to hold her cool and create an alternate personality through every arc, every loop, every murder, every minute, she had to keep her cool. The only times she didn't was win she was informing a visitor about the dangers of this town, or in a physical battle. Rika believes that strength is nothing but a word. Strength to her is living in a world where time is endless and she's the only one who has knowledge of it, pushing her to be someone she more than likely truly despises. Her battle with Mion showed me how strained and tired she was of this predicament. The last episode was a turning point in my respect and love for Rika. Once again, the time reset, even after Keiichi realized he was in a time-loop, and Rika was still the only one who understood the nature of it all. Rika eventually reveals over 100 years of time-loops, murders, dying, rotting, living a lie has taken a toll on her and even the people she cares about despite that they have no knowledge of the loop. She sets out to find what is causing this un-endable despair and tragedy that she and the town have been experiencing; truly her. She's had to live with horrors for many years and sadly learned to build a facade around it. Not only is she a hidden main character, she proves to be major help for the continuation, and her perserverance and dedication to the situation of Hinimazawa is nothing but a cry for her horrors to end. She spent one hundred years dying and living. Now she may spend a hundred years trying to find what it is about this place that causes so much pain. All she wants is an escape; That's the main thing I connect with her on. Albeit her situation is dire and never going to happen, but things take a toll on you for so long to where you're ready to end it for both you and everyone else. Not only is she ageless, but she's truly the only character on the show that emotes real life feelings and emotions. The show lives off hysteria, mania, and insanity, and I always wondered why she was the only one who never lost her mind. Now I know. Rika Furude is an understated queen. Her character development is truly astonishing and one of the best.